Honor flag with proper retirement ceremony

Published: Wednesday, June 12, 2013 at 08:00 AM.

The L.E. “Tommy” Thomas American Legion Post 375, American Legion Riders Post 375 along with Boy Scout Troop 356 invite the citizens of Bay County and surrounding areas to join us at 2 p.m. Saturday for a U.S. Flag Retirement Ceremony.

Flag Day is celebrated on June 14. It commemorates the adoption of the flag of the United States, which happened on that day by resolution of the Second Continental Congress in 1777. In 1916, President Woodrow Wilson issued a proclamation that officially established June 14 as Flag Day; in August 1949, National Flag Day was established by an act of Congress.

Accepted practice is to perform flag retirement ceremonies on National Flag Day or within a short time thereof. The Boy Scouts of America have many different moving ceremonies for flag retirements by fire, and Saturday we at American Legion Post 375, 6937 State 77 in Southport (call 271-8761) invite you to watch Boy Scout Troop 356 perform theirs. Afterward, stay and enjoy a fish fry hosted by the American Legion Riders Post 375.

From 12 p.m. to 8 p.m. through Friday, American Legion Post 375 will be accepting all flags that are ready for retirement in accordance with flag etiquette set forth in the United States Flag Code, which establishes advisory rules for display and care of the flag of the United States. It is Chapter 1 of Title 4 of the United States Code.

Bring us your faded, torn and otherwise unserviceable flag for retirement. Our American Legion family hopes to see you and your family for this moving and patriotic ceremony.

The L.E. “Tommy” Thomas American Legion Post 375, American Legion Riders Post 375 along with Boy Scout Troop 356 invite the citizens of Bay County and surrounding areas to join us at 2 p.m. Saturday for a U.S. Flag Retirement Ceremony.

Flag Day is celebrated on June 14. It commemorates the adoption of the flag of the United States, which happened on that day by resolution of the Second Continental Congress in 1777. In 1916, President Woodrow Wilson issued a proclamation that officially established June 14 as Flag Day; in August 1949, National Flag Day was established by an act of Congress.

Accepted practice is to perform flag retirement ceremonies on National Flag Day or within a short time thereof. The Boy Scouts of America have many different moving ceremonies for flag retirements by fire, and Saturday we at American Legion Post 375, 6937 State 77 in Southport (call 271-8761) invite you to watch Boy Scout Troop 356 perform theirs. Afterward, stay and enjoy a fish fry hosted by the American Legion Riders Post 375.

From 12 p.m. to 8 p.m. through Friday, American Legion Post 375 will be accepting all flags that are ready for retirement in accordance with flag etiquette set forth in the United States Flag Code, which establishes advisory rules for display and care of the flag of the United States. It is Chapter 1 of Title 4 of the United States Code.

Bring us your faded, torn and otherwise unserviceable flag for retirement. Our American Legion family hopes to see you and your family for this moving and patriotic ceremony.

Flag Day is June 14. All Americans should know how to properly display and show respect for this icon of our history.

For example, this past Memorial Day, two of our five military organizational clubs in Bay County did not fly the American flag properly, as per Title 36, Chapter 10, Patriotic Customs, Paragraph 175, Item M, which states that the flag should be flown at half-staff from 6 a.m. to noon, then returned to the top of the flagpole at that time.

Proper display of bunting should be blue, white and red from the top of the bunting with no stars. The same goes for bunting on the speaker’s platform. This is stated in “Our Flag,” 100th Congress, Session H, Document 100-247 (1989).

Even when the president of the United States is the speaker, the bunting has sometimes been inappropriately displayed: blue, white and red with no stars in the bunting. As leader of the free world, he of all speakers should show proper respect for the flag he represents.